Friday, September 28, 2018

Planting an Interest in Reading

Who says English must always be taught in the classroom? Students in English I headed outside to learn why details are important.  Students are learning how to "close read" a story.  In order to understand this concept students were assigned plants in the courtyard to "close read."  Students had to observe the plant from a distance (like a first read) and then gradually made observations that included more details (like a second reading) until they finally were allowed to touch the plant (like a third reading).  Students then took their observations back to the classroom and attempted to identify their plant with the help of the internet.  Most students successfully identified their plant or tree and all the students said they now understand why just reading a text once does not allow a reader to grasp all the ideas embedded into it. As one student said, "you don't really know your plant until you get to touch it." 




Wednesday, September 26, 2018

The Freshmen Have Spoken!



English I Honors students recently participated in a debate activity.  Students were divided into groups and given magazine articles on various topics regarding the American educational systems. Topics including reading for pleasure, using meditation instead of suspensions for discipline, and taking notes on paper versus computers.  After analyzing the articles for bias students were assigned to agree or disagree with the topic and each group choose a representative for a class debate.  Group representatives did a great topic arguing for their side of the issue.  The students are now ready to take their analyzing and arguing skills into the research paper unit. 


 






























Photos provided by Mrs. Mitchell's English 1 Honors Class
Assembled by Tati Pierre and Sydney Hines
Photos of Ms. Higgins's AP environmental science class investigating the movement of energy through an ecosystem. To do this, they dissected regurgitated pellets of owls, which are secondary consumers. The class then reassembled the animals using the bones and used the skeletons to compare the regions of which the animals were from.


Monday, September 17, 2018

Watch Cougar scientists at work!  Students Rose Helms, Jessica Settlemyre, and Serena Russell testing a substance for carbohydrates in Dayne Chester's biology class.

Thursday, September 13, 2018



Watch Mr. McCollum's physics class learn about conversion rates by measuring the gold and silver they pan for in class.  It's really just rocks painted gold and silver, but the students had a great time learning physics and "panning for gold"!